Replies

1. 
   hammer1 | Oct 29, 2004 05:38am | #1

   Well, you have to dig. This will pretty much destroy any landscaping that may be around the house. You need to call Dig Safe and get your utilities marked. The drains go down to the footing level. Poured concrete foundations are usually plenty sturdy but old brick or block could cause big trouble.

   There are specialists that install drains on the inside. They cut out a small section of the slab around the perimeter, install drains and a sump if needed and use a vinyl cover over the openings. It's not perfect but they work and you don't have to excavate.

   Beat it to fit / Paint it to match

2. 
   dIrishInMe | Oct 29, 2004 06:42am | #2

   Anything other than daylighting your drain tails is a distant second choice.

   Matt
3. 
   VaGentinMI | Oct 29, 2004 02:17pm | #3

   If you cannot daylight the drain tails, run them to a sump pump inside, or a drywell outside. w/  the drywell, you need a sump pump also, cuz ur "drywell" wont be so dry when you get a 3/4" rain w/ the ground already saturated.

   I had a found leak, was going to put the drywell in, but decided logistics more than i wanted to handle eg. maint. access to a sump 6' - 8' underground outside. in my situation, made sense to put another pump inside, plumbed over to existing pump.

   The more I learn, the richer I become, if I ever stop learning life here will no longer be worth living.
1. 
   Taylor | Oct 30, 2004 05:57pm | #4

   I was warned against plumbing to interior sump.... Imagine the combination of heavy rain and power failure....

1. 
   VaGentinMI | Oct 30, 2004 07:12pm | #5

   true, that is why they make battery backups, and generators.

   The more I learn, the richer I become, if I ever stop learning life here will no longer be worth living.

1. 
   warehouse | Oct 30, 2004 10:41pm | #6

   It is a skate bowl but they have some good photos of whats involved

   http://www.9bowl.com/

1. 
   VaGentinMI | Oct 30, 2004 10:51pm | #7

   Wonder where osha was during the dig?The more I learn, the richer I become, if I ever stop learning life here will no longer be worth living.

2. 
   gdavis62 | Oct 31, 2004 01:25am | #8

   I don't install "french" drains any more.

   Nor do I eat "french" toast.

   "French" fries?  History.

   A kiss of that type?  Never!

   My wife's hair's gettin long.  A "french" braid?  Fugeddiboutit!

3. 
   dIrishInMe | Oct 31, 2004 02:26am | #9

   No french drains?  Hows come???  What do you just hope you won't have a water problem???  Matt

4. 
   gdavis62 | Oct 31, 2004 02:38am | #10

   We call 'em curtain drains.  And we don't use no gutters, neither.

5. 
   dIrishInMe | Oct 31, 2004 05:08am | #11

   I'm guessing it doesn't rain so hard up there.  Around here no gutters means a mud splattered house and no landscaping...Matt

6. 
   Piffin | Oct 31, 2004 05:33am | #12

   Around here no gutters means a well designed roof plan and fine landscaping. The right bushes break up the waterfall. Good roof design keeps it away from steps, entrys, etc. 

    

   Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!

7. 
   VaTom | Oct 31, 2004 07:08pm | #13

   Here too, unfortunately quite rare.  The others live with the maintenance of rain gutters.  And rarely are willing to disturb landscaping to fix a bad design.PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!

4. 
   Piffin | Oct 31, 2004 09:32pm | #14

   There may be a difference of terminology here.

   When building a foundation, we place a perimeter drain at the base of the foundation which generally leads to daylight, and occasionally to a sump pump. That is not called a french drain in my book. Some of these posts have compared the two and that may be a regional terminology. But we call it a perimeter drain.

   A french drain is what we sometimes put in on a 75 year old ghouse with water problems. Over time, the hosue settles in and the yard around it billows up from additions of peaatmoss, manure, seeding, landscapeing etc. the surface begins to drain towards the house. The water then finds its way into the cellar because the original tile drain system has been compromised from silting, tree roots, etc.

   The best answer is to dig all the way to the footing and install a new perimeter drain, which I did on one fiour years ago.

   But there are times when the home owners budget cannot tolerate digging that deep. Then, the surface is tapered to a drainage ditch about four feet out away from foundation and 18" deep. A drain line is placed in it with landscaping fabric and stone to capture the water. More landscape fabric over it and then 4" of soil and sod to finish.

   so the end result is a yard that drains water away from foundation to a lower spot that has the void in the drain under it to lead that water out from the house before it seeps deep in ground to the base and into the basement.

   Maybe that is what you are asking about.

    

    

   Welcome to the
   Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime.
    where ...
   Excellence is its own reward!